Police need protection

I had always been adamantly anti-death penalty until Freemansburg police Officer Robert Lasso's brutal murder. If convicted, the man responsible deserves the death penalty. Without a doubt.

A Morning Call article regarding the public memorial service began with a disturbing truth — a Freemansburg officer's point: "The respect police officers receive in death is out of all proportion to the respect they receive in life." Exactly.

I did not know Officer Lasso or his family (my heart goes out to them). I am a concerned citizen. My concern is the increasingly imperiled liberties of law enforcement. Our officers are verbally and physically abused. Each time they leave for work there is a possibility they won't return. Ask Jennifer Lasso.

Amid danger and constant scrutiny, the police are becoming deprived of their right to freedom of speech (by those who abuse the perimeters), forced toward outward stoicism and forced to choose their words carefully. Maybe it is to impede dangerous escalation. Maybe because we are living in an age of out-of-control, over-the-top frivolous lawsuits. Police are being subtly and wrongfully silenced. And when someone's rightful voice is silenced, we are deprived of hearing, of learning.

Since law enforcement serves and protects, isn't it time to get a handle on ways we can protect them as well?